


murderous profiler club

by grchampcwell



Category: Hannibal (TV), Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Friendship, Jessica is concerned but in her own way, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright is a Mess, Malcolm and Will Besties, Malcolm annoying little brother vibes, Malcolm just makes jokes, Martin is only mentioned, Mentions of Murder, Sapphic Ainsley, Someone Help Will Graham, Will Graham & Beverly Katz Friendship, Will Graham Needs a Hug, Will Graham is So Done, Will Graham is a Mess, Will has big brother vibes in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:47:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29165202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grchampcwell/pseuds/grchampcwell
Summary: a fic in which Malcolm Bright is Will Graham's student and Will notices he is struggling so he offers support and they become best friendsaka the author wants their comfort characters to be besties
Relationships: Abigail Hobbs & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Ainsley Whitly, Will Graham & Beverly Katz, Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham & Malcolm Bright
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alechardyss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alechardyss/gifts).



> hi i repeat so much in this chapter cause i am dumb. this is a friendship fic pls no weird shit in the comments. other hannibal and pson characters will come into fic later. i may change some of canon for hannibal to make stuff fit better but we'll see

Will sighed as he looked around his classroom. It was his second year of teaching at Quantico and he was preparing for the start of classes in a few days. It had only been a few months over a year since Will had to leave his job as a cop in New Orleans after being stabbed. He was still new to working at Quantico but he knew what he was talking about. Will looked through the list of names he had been given. His first class wasn’t too large since many new trainees were more interested in the classes that were more about training for in field work. The forensic psychology classes were required at a basic level for all students but most left it until their last year or so. 

Will started with setting up the syllabus since he had to be at Quantico anyway, he might as well get some work done. New students were going through tours and or just picking up their schedules and learning their way around themselves. Will could hear people talking as they walked through the halls. He typed up some lesson plans for him to work on. Hopefully the new trainees would be easy enough and he could lecture and not worry about interruptions or people goofing around. 

.

A few days later, class was starting and Will was glad to have the distraction of work back. He had been focusing on healing his shoulder during the break and didn’t really do much else besides fish. Will set up all his stuff as students came filing into the classroom. Will scanned the room as he waited for everyone to settle down. He usually tried to read the room and figure out which students would be trouble makers. 

Will’s eyes stopped on a young man who had moved to sit alone. It was unusual for students to separate themselves because usually they tried to make friends as soon as possible so they had people to help them through the lectures just in case they were struggling. Will’s eyes scanned the young man for a minute. He was probably just similar to Will and didn’t like social interaction. 

Once the students finally quieted down, Will stood in front of his desk. He read out their names just to make sure everyone was there and so he could connect names to faces. He then began his lecture on general knowledge the students would need to know for the class. He noticed some students seemed to be whispering to the people they sat next to. At least they weren;t loud interruptions. 

Before class finished, Will explained that they would go over the criminal psychology and profiling of serial killers that had been caught then they would get to cases they could use to practice profiling. The bell rang and all his students filed out of the room and Will turned towards his desk, to restart his lecture for the next class. It was going to be a long day. 

.

A few weeks had gone by and Will had already gone over some smaller, lesser known serial killers and now he was getting into the heavier cases. Will opened up the presentation on The Surgeon as students settled down from filing into the classroom. The young man that had caught Will’s attention during the first class, whose name was Malcolm Bright as Will had learned, rushed out of the classroom. He would have to talk to him once class was over or after next class if he didn’t come back. Will knew Bright seemed distant from others but he didn’t understand why he was leaving the room. Will pinched the bridge of his nose and began his lecture. 

Towards the end of class, he noticed Bright come back in. He seemed shaken up especially when he realized Will was still lecturing. Will continued with the lecture until the bell rang. Bright rushed out of the class with his other classmates. Will would have to talk to him after the next class. 

The next class they were still going over The Surgeon and Bright snuck out again. Will figured there was something in this case that was making Bright leave the class. Maybe someone he knew had been a victim. It’s a possibility. Some people joined law enforcement after losing a loved one to crime or witnessing injustice. He’d have to talk to Bright later. Will focussed onto the lecture he was giving again, hoping his students didn’t notice that he was slightly distracted. 

At the end of class, Will made sure that Bright was back in class. He needed to talk to him about leaving the class. He hoped the student would stay instead of rushing out. When the bell rang, Will watched Bright. There was something about this student. He was going through something, Will could tell due to his empathy disorder. He wanted to help him.  
“Bright, can I talk to you?” Will said before the young man could leave the classroom. Malcolm Bright walked over to Will’s desk. The other students walked out of the class. 

“Yes Professor,” Malcolm said once he had stopped in front of Will’s desk. 

“I noticed you sneaking out of class. If you’re struggling you can come talk to me,” Will said. He didn’t want to get mad at Bright, just in case he was avoiding class due to possible trauma or emotional distress. 

“Sorry, the Surgeon's crimes are just hard for me to hear about,” Bright admitted. 

“That’s fine, I just wish you would’ve come to me before just ditching class,” Will explained and Bright nodded. 

“I will next time,” 

“Skip next class, It’s another lesson on the Surgeon. Bright, you can talk to me if you’re struggling with anything,” Will said and Bright nodded before leaving the classroom. Will could tell that he meant well, but something was making these cases extremely hard to listen to for Bright. He hoped Bright may eventually open up to him since he didn’t seem to ever interact with any of his other classmates.  
.  
Weeks went by and everything seemed to be fine again. Bright hadn’t snuck out of anymore classes now that they weren’t talking about the Surgeon in class. Some students had gotten more disruptive as they got more comfortable in the class but Will tried his best to ignore those students.

Will did notice that Malcolm was struggling with something outside of the class. He wanted to talk to him and make sure everything was okay but he didn’t want to pressure the younger man into speaking. Maybe he would take Will’s words to heart and talk to him if he needed to. 

Now class was over and Bright was lingering. Will looked up at Bright once all the other students had left. 

“Is everything okay?” Will asked.

“Sorry I don’t really have any friends here and I needed someone to talk to,” Malcolm said quietly. He was obviously nervous and upset. Will motioned for him to sit down. 

“Bright, it’s okay, I did say you could come to me for anything. What’s going on?” Wil said. 

“Right, uh I just have really bad nightmares and it’s been affecting my ability to pay attention since I haven’t been sleeping,” Bright replied quietly. Will nodded and sighed softly. He remembered how he had suffered from nightmares almost nightly when he was a cop. His empathy helped him get into the heads of criminals and sometimes it was hard to remove himself from that mindset. 

“I understand how nightmares can be troubling. If you want, I can offer you extra help with things for class,” Will said and Bright nodded. 

“That’d be great. I’ve been worried that my nightmares would end up causing me too many problems,” 

“Are your nightmares being caused by the content of the class?” Will asked curiously. 

“No, I’ve had nightmares since I was young due to some traumatic events,” Malcolm replied and Will nodded. 

“Do you want to talk about them?” Will asked and Malcolm shook his head. 

“Not right now,” 

“That's understandable, but if you do ever need to talk about them, you can come to me,” Will said quietly and Malcolm nodded. 

“Thank you Professor Graham,” Malcolm said quietly before saying goodbye and leaving the classroom. 

Will didn’t understand why he was so willing to help Bright since normally he didn’t really pay much attention to his students unless they came to him for help. There was just something about Bright that made Will want to offer him help. He could tell Malcolm had some issues and now he knew that Malcolm had them due to something in his past. His worry that Malcolm possibly knew one of the Surgeon’s victims was back. He wished that Bright had come to him about wanting to skip those lessons earlier on because he was worried that now those memories had been triggered. 

Will wrote up some lecture notes for Bright since he knew he was struggling with focusing in class. Bright sometimes looked extremely exhausted and Will wanted to just tell him to take a nap and that he’d give him the lesson notes later on. He was worried about him and didn’t want him running on no sleep because he personally knew how hard it really was. He remembered how often he ended up falling asleep at his desk in the police station to only wake up covered in his own sweat and with another officer asking if he was okay. 

.

Malcolm sighed as he walked into Professor Graham’s classroom. He took his seat before getting lost in his own thoughts. His mom had been trying to convince him to quit since she found out that he’d have to deal with people like his father. He knew it would be a struggle to work with criminal psychology since everything that he knew had been taught to him by his father before he was arrested. When Professor Graham had brought up the Surgeon, Malcolm couldn’t just sit in his seat and listen to people talk about the man that raised him. Being away from his father was good for him but it was still hard to hear about his crimes and not have a reaction. He had nightmares before his father had been mentioned but hearing about his father had made them worse. He couldn’t stop thinking about the night his father had been arrested. 

“We are the same,'' Martin Whitly, his father had said to him as he was pulled away from Malcolm by the police. Jessica Whitly, his mother was holding onto the young Ainsley Whiltly and was begging for the police to remove her husband from their home. Malcolm couldn’t hear anything else after his father spoke, like his ears were full of water but he knew what was happening. He had lived through it. 

Then the surrounding switched and Malcolm was in his father’s cell. They were talking about murder, as usual. He was studying criminal psychology at Harvard, they often talked murder while Malcolm worked on his classwork. But the tone of their conversation switched when he mentioned joining Quantico. The next thing Malcolm knew, his father’s hand was on his shoulder and he was screaming. 

Malcolm jolted awake in his seat. Shit he had fallen asleep in class. Everyone was looking at him. Shit he must have screamed out loud as well. Professor Graham called for everyone to pay attention to the class. Malcolm took his chance and left the classroom. Dear god, now all his classmates probably thought he was completely strange. Malcolm knew he came off peculiar already since he avoided most conversations and kept to himself while everyone else was trying to make friends. 

When class was close to being done. Malcolm snuck back in since he knew Professor Graham would probably want to talk to him. He was still embarrassed that he had let himself fall asleep but he was glad he didn’t end up moving much since at nights he had to chain himself to his bed due to how much he thrashed around. Malcolm sighed as he realized his hand tremor was back. Class ended and all his peers left as quickly as possible. Malcolm then walked down towards Professor Graham’s desk. 

“Are you okay?” Professor Graham asked as Malcolm took a seat by his desk. 

“Yea it was a somewhat more tame version of the nightmare I usually have,” Malcolm mumbled. 

“More tame?” 

“Most of my nightmares cause me to thrash and bite, so I have to wear a mouth guard and restraints,” Malcolm explained quietly. He could tell that Professor Graham actually cared about what was going on with him. Professor Graham actually seemed to be listening to him and was willing to try and help him. 

“They’re that bad?” 

“Yea, like I said they were caused by pretty traumatic events,” 

“If you ever need to talk about them, you can come to me,” Professor Graham reminded him. Malcolm nodded.

“Sorry, I interrupted class,” Malcolm said quietly after a few moments. Professor Graham sighed softly. 

“It’s fine, Bright. If you need to stay home and get some rest during a future class, email me,” 

“Thank you,” Malcolm said before leaving to head to his next class. He was thankful Professor Graham was so understanding and wasn’t pushing him to open up about what was causing him nightmares. He still wasn’t ready to admit that his father was the Surgeon, not to anyone at Quantico. 

.

Will had just been giving a normal lecture, when he had noticed that some of his students kept looking back at where Bright was sat. He noticed that Bright was asleep but was still confused on why it kept grabbing his student’s attention. That was until Bright let out and scream and jolted awake. Bright looked scared but then seemed to realize where he was. He could tell that now the young man was embarrassed. He immediately called for his students to look back at the front. He knew how uncomfortable it was to have everyone staring at you when all you wanted was to disappear. He noticed Bright sneak out before he fully returned his focus to the lecture. 

When class was over and he was able to talk to Bright, he realized how worried he was for his student. He knew that there was definitely something big that Malcolm was hiding from everyone else. Will just wasn’t sure if he would ever open up to anyone. His empathy could only help him understand the others emotions but it didn’t give him the full story. He wanted to help Malcolm but he couldn’t if he had no idea what was causing him issues. 

Will sighed as he then tried to focus on getting through the rest of his lectures rather than worrying about his student. Malcolm would come talk to him if he really needed to. Will brought up the lecture again for his next class.  
.  
A few days later, Will was working on paperwork during his office hours when Malcolm walked into his classroom. Will looked up when he saw him. 

“Hello Bright,” Will said as Malcolm took a seat. He looked more rested than he had the previous week. 

“Hi, I was wondering if I could catch up on some of the lectures I’ve missed,” He said. Will nodded and got up to hand him his own notes before returning to his own desk. 

Malcolm read through the notes and took his own while Will continued to work on paperwork. He often would write profiles for some of the cases that were currently mid investigation and available for him to show to his classes. He had originally wanted to be an actual agent but due to his injured shoulder and his inability to pass the psychological evaluation, he had chosen to become a teacher.

“Why did you become a teacher? Your notes are detailed enough that someone could easily mistake them as the formal profile in a case file,” Malcolm said, causing Will to remove himself from his thoughts. 

“I got stabbed when I was a cop and couldn’t use my right arm that well for a bit. Also I’m apparently too unstable to pass the psych eval,” Will said. 

“You seem pretty stable and you couldn’t pass,” Malcolm said, concern becoming apparent on his face. 

“I was a mess when I took it. I had recently been stabbed and forced into medical leave and I wasn’t that keen on doing a psych eval and being psychoanalyzed so I ended up failing,” Will explained. 

“Oh, I was worried since I’ve been diagnosed with a few things and I don’t know if I would actually be able to pass,” Malcolm said quietly and Will nodded. 

“I’m sure you’ll be able to pass,” Will said. 

“I guess, It’s just a lot of my issues were stemmed by a murderer,” Malcolm admitted. Maybe he had lost a loved one to the Surgeon. 

“I’m guessing the Surgeon since he’s the only killer whose lessons made you leave the room,” Will said quietly and Malcolm sighed before nodding. 

“Well you don’t seem to be bothered by crime scene photos, or inspired by them. So even though the Surgeon caused issues for you, I don’t think they will affect you passing the psych eval,” Will said after a few moments of silence.

“Hypothetically, would the FBI be against the child of a killer trying to join?” Malcolm asked. Will chewed on his bottom lip and he thought about it. 

“Only if the child showed signs of being like their killer parent. If the child could pass the psych eval and prove they aren’t a killer themselves the FBI would let them join. Why do you ask?” 

“Um I was just curious,” Malcolm said and Will could easily tell that he was lying but he didn’t want to push him. He figured that there had to be a reason Malcolm asked about that. Will looked at his paperwork again. Why would Malcolm want to know that? Will then realized that it wasn’t a hypothetical question and that he was talking about himself. The way his voice had been wavering when he asked showed Will that he was nervous to ask, rather than curious. Will sighed, he wanted Malcolm to tell him the truth but he didn’t want to force him into it. 

They continued to sit in silence as the both worked on their respective work. Will wanted to research if Dr. Martin Whitly had ever had children, just to see if it was a possibility that Malcolm was his son. After a while, Malcolm thanked Will for letting him catch up before leaving the room. He would have to just wait and see if Malcolm was willing to tell him. 

.

After another month of Malcolm and Will spending office hours talking, Malcolm was becoming more and more comfortable with opening up to Will. Will had learned that Dr. Martin Whitly did end up having children, a son and a daughter that were present the night of his arrest. There was a possibility that Malcolm was the son. 

One day, Will’s suspicions were confirmed. Malcolm was sitting with him during office hours once again when he sighed out loud as he read Will’s lecture notes. Right, he was finally catching up on the Surgeon’s case. 

“I think I know a lot about the Surgeon. Could I possibly just skip these lecture notes,” Malcolm said causing Will to look up from what he was working on. 

“I know that the Surgeon’s case may not be easy for you but it’s required for the class,” Will said quietly. 

“I know but I promise I could tell you all about my father’s case,” Malcolm said before realizing what he had said and he sighed. “I go by Bright because it was hard to get through as Martin Whitly’s son when everyone thinks you’re just like your father. I was born Malcolm Whitly,” Malcolm added and Will nodded. 

“Skip the Surgeon. I know it’s probably hard for you to read about all the things he did,” 

“I studied him and his crimes when I was at Harvard. He actually taught me everything I already know about anatomy and the criminal mind,” 

“Were you close with your dad?” 

“Before his arrest he seemed like the perfect dad. I visited him up until a few months before I came to Quantico. We got in a huge fight over me joining the FBI,” 

“You’re pursuing a career where if he was still an active killer, you’d have to catch him. He sees that as betrayal,” Will mumbled, loud enough for Malcolm to hear him and understand it. Malcolm nodded. 

“My nightmare when in class that one day, I was back in his cell and he touched my shoulder that’s what caused me to scream and wake up,” Malcolm said and Will nodded slowly. He got up and took the lecture notes from Malcolm and gave him different lecture notes. They both went back to work, silently letting the conversation that had just been happening process. 

“Professor Graham?” Malcolm asked a while later. 

“You can call me Will and yes?” Will said.

“Where did you learn about the criminal mind?” 

“Being in the police force. I’m apparently extremely empathetic and I used to make leaps that people didn’t understand. The police force I worked for had a high solve rate when I was there. I just made connections,” 

“Thinking like the killer,” Malcolm said and Will nodded. Will gave him a small smile and Malcolm returned it before going back to his work. Will looked back down on his paperwork. He was glad Malcolm was opening up to him some more and letting his walls down. Will trusted him enough to break his own walls down a bit as well. 

.

Over the next few weeks Will and Malcolm began to become actual friends. Malcolm didn’t interact with his peers much and the only person that actually knew about his father was Will. He actually trusted Will not to use it against him or judge him for it. Malcolm was still scared that his peers would find out and he’d get shamed for it or people would immediately assume he was just like his father. He had decided to become a profiler to distance himself from the fact that he was the Surgeon’s son but he knew his father would always be something that affected him and he would need to tell the FBI before he could actually join, they would be able to figure out his relation to the Surgeon. 

Malcolm sighed as he remembered how when he was still in middle school, he avoided making friends after a few parents told their kids that they didn’t want them hanging around Malcolm because of his last name. Once he was going into high school, he had begged his mother to let him use Bright instead of Whitly because he didn’t want to deal with the judgemental looks and sometimes even scared looks. He knew everyone would’ve just seen him as the Surgeon’s son. Malcolm was pulled from his thoughts as Will started the lecture he was giving for that class.

Malcolm was thankful he knew enough about basic criminal psychology to pass the class without being completely focused on the lectures. He was also thankful that Will was allowing him to come in during office hours to catch up on what he had been missing since he wasn’t always the most focused due to lack of sleep or being lost in his thoughts. 

After classes were done, Malcolm headed back to Will’s classroom to find him working on future lecture plans. 

“Hey Will,” Malcolm said as he took a seat. Will smiled at him. 

“Hey,” He said as he got up to give Malcolm the lecture notes. 

“Do you have any pets?” Malcolm randomly asked. 

“Four dogs. Didn’t want to talk about murder and crime today?” Will asked, chuckling softly. 

“Thought it’d be nice to not talk about murder and crime for once. And four dogs? Most people would think that’s a lot,” Malcolm said jokingly. 

“I have a habit of collecting strays,” Will stated. “Do you have any pets or had any before coming to Quantico?” 

“I had a snake when I was younger and I’m thinking about getting a bird. I don’t think I could handle a dog since I don’t want to scare it with my nightmares,” Malcolm said quietly. He liked dogs but he was worried that if he had one, he may scare it or hurt it while he was sleeping. 

“That’s understandable. I had similar concerns when I had nightmares nightly, but now that it’s a little less common, I started adopting strays,” Will explained quietly. Malcolm nodded as he listened to Will. 

“You used to have nightmares?” Malcolm asked. 

“I worked homicide as a cop. I used my empathy to understand and profiler the killers. Sometimes when I would get in the killer’s head they wouldn’t leave. I’d start having nightmares about the victims,” Will said quietly. 

“Being in the field affected you that much and you still planned to become an actual FBI agent?” 

“Yea, I guess it was the prospect of helping save lives that made me want to continue but after my injury, I couldn’t work for the police force and was forced into medical leave then failing the psych eval for the FBI, I decided to just become a forensic psychology professor here,” Will rambled to Malcolm. It was obvious he wasn’t one who opened up very often. 

The pair of them weren’t ones to open up but they had found trust in each other. They both also weren’t ones that easily made friends. Malcolm was glad he had decided to open up to Will. It was nice to have someone to talk to and know they weren’t judging him behind his back. 

They both knew what it was like to be considered the weird person by their peers. Malcolm had told Will about how in middle school he had been bullied and judged for being Martin Whitly’s son. He also had explained to Will about how he had begged to change his last name to Bright legally before he went to high school because he didn’t want to go through that again. It was all preventative due to the fact that some students still found out before Malcolm got himself expelled. It was better when he had gone to Harvard thankfully. Everyone was too caught up in passing and getting through university to care about whether or not Bright was his birth name. 

Will hadn’t opened up as much as Malcolm had, only mentioning that he had issues keeping friends since he moved around a lot growing up. Will understood what it was like to be an outcast and Malcolm was glad that he could go to him for advice or support when he was struggling. He was beginning to see Will as an older brother figure. 

.

Will was glad that Malcolm was actually opening up to him and he was opening up in return because he wanted Malcolm to know he was comfortable talking to him. He realized he was actually beginning to consider Malcolm a friend. He wanted to see Malcolm succeed and not struggle as much as he was currently.  
They ended up spending more evenings talking, sometimes staying in Will’s classroom for hours just talking about whatever was on their minds. Will ended up giving Malcolm his number for if he ever needed some support after a nightmare, he never slept much anyways. Will wasn’t known for taking the best care of himself and oftentimes he wouldn’t go back to sleep if he had a nightmare himself. Malcolm had yet to try and call him, probably scared to wake Will up in the middle of the night. 

Eventually one night, Malcolm did finally call him. Will was already awake, working on a boat motor on his living room floor as the dogs laid in front of the space heaters. Malcolm apologized for calling so late when Will answered and Will continuously reassured him that it was fine since he was already awake. Malcolm explained what was going on and Will tried his best to help and calm him down. Malcolm definitely was becoming like a little brother to him although Will didn’t have any actual siblings.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malcolm convinces Will to join his family for dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am shit at dialouge, anyways mega time skips cause i wanna introduce more hannibal characters. may also fully introduce gil and jackie into fic soon because i want father-son relationship for gil and malcolm.

Will and Malcolm’s friendship grew as the semester went by. They had begun to talk off campus as well. At first it was phone calls when Malcolm was distressed from a nightmare. Eventually they were hanging out at each other’s homes some nights, eating comfort foods and watching dumb movies. Malcolm could easily compare the friendship they had to the relationship he had with his sister. Will was basically the older brother Malcolm never had.

Class went by fast and soon classes were going on break for the winter. Malcolm was planning on staying in Virginia for the break since he didn’t want to have the possible temptation of visiting his father. His mother and sister decided they would fly down to come and visit him. The apartment his mother had gotten him was large enough for all three of them to be comfortable.

.

Now Malcolm and Will were sitting on Will’s patio as the dogs played in the snow. Malcolm sighed as he sipped on the hot coffee Will had given him. His mom and sister were scheduled to be in Virginia in less than a week and he was stressing out. His mom wasn’t the most fond of his career choice and all he’d probably hear from her was about how it was a bad choice.

“My mom and sister are coming to visit for the holidays,” Malcolm said into their silence. Will jumped at the sound of his speaking since he had zoned out and gotten lost in his own thoughts.

“Are you happy you’re going to be able to see them?” Will asked after a few seconds.

“Yea, I miss Ainsley and my mom a lot. It’s just my mom isn’t the biggest fan of me being at Quantico. She doesn’t like that I’m making my career around murder,”

“Cause of your father?” Will asked and Malcolm nodded.

“They decided to come to Virginia because I could easily be tempted to visit my dad in New York,” Malcolm admitted.

“Do you have any family visiting?” Malcolm added, curious if Will was going to be staying in Virginia as well.

“No, It’s just me and the dogs like usual,”

“You could join me and my family,”

“One, I don’t want to impose. Two, you once mentioned your family is rich and I don’t do fancy rich things,” Will said jokingly and Malcolm rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on, have dinner with us at least,”

“I’ll think about it, but don’t expect me to agree,” Will said and Malcolm nodded.

“Let me know if you do decide to join us,” He said. They spent a little while longer on Will’s patio, sat in a comfortable silence as Will’s dogs played.

.

A few days later, Malcolm was reading on his couch when there was a knock on his front door. Malcolm opened the door to find his sister.

“Ainsley,” Malcolm exclaimed as he hugged his little sister. She was a few years younger but they were actually pretty close. Ainsley hugged back immediately.

“Hey, mom told me to come get you to help bring our bags up,” Ainsley said against his shoulder and Malcolm pulled back from the hug.

“We should head downstairs then,” Malcolm said before the two of them met their mom downstairs. Jessica turned around when she saw them. She hugged her son before handing him a suitcase. Malcolm sighed softly.

“Hello, it’s lovely to see you mother,” Malcolm said and she smiled at him.

“It’s lovely to see you as well,” She said before walking up to Malcolm’s apartment. Ainsley and him followed her. Once all their suitcases were inside, Jessica turned to him.

“So how are your classes at Quantico going? Have you made any friends? Caused any trouble?” She asked and Malcolm rolled his eyes.

“My classes are going fine. I made a friend. Though he’s not a fellow student and I have not caused any trouble,” Malcolm said.

“Not a fellow student?” Jessica asked.

“He’s the psychology professor, he’s actually only a few years older than me,” Malcolm explained and Jessica nodded.

“Why not another student though?” Ainsley asked as she sat on Malcolm’s couch.

“The other students think I’m weird cause I like to keep to myself,” Malcolm said as he sat next to her. Jessica sighed and left her children in Malcolm’s living room. Probably to make sure that Malcolm was still being careful and using his restraints and mouth guard.

“How’s school going for you?” Malcoklm asked Ainsley. She was still in high school, being only sixteen.

“Good. I joined a journalism class and I really enjoy it,”

“Is that what you’re thinking about pursuing a career in?”

“Possibly. I really like writing about the daily news. It’s interesting to me,” Ainsley said.

“How’s the social part of school? You’ve always been better at making friends than me so I assume you probably have a bunch of friends,”

“Yea, there’s this girl I like and I kinda wanna ask her out but I don’t think she’s into girls,” Ainsley admitted and gave him a shy smile. Malcolm remembered that the last time they had spoken, Ainsley had opened up to him about being attracted to girls. He was extremely supportive of her since he was bisexual himself.

She wasn’t much different than the last time he had seen her even though it had been awhile. The same little sister that asked for his advice when she had problems, even if they both knew he didn’t have the answer, he would always try to help.

“Well, Maybe try. No matter what, don't be discouraged. Crushes often come with rejection,” Malcolm said before kissing the top of his sister’s head.

He was thankful she wasn’t a younger sibling who was always looking to fight with him. He was happy to be close with her and have her look up to him even just a little bit. Ainsley was likely to be more successful and happy in her life since she was too young to really remember their father before he was arrested. Malcolm on the other hand had been the one to turn his father in and unfortunately had been extremely close to his father up until a few months ago so it definitely had more effect on him.

The two siblings ended up talking for a while as their mother unpacked her own bags in Malcolm’s guest room. After an hour or so the family ended up eating together. Catching up on what had been happening over the last few months. Malcolm was glad to see his mother and sister as he had missed them. His mother did have the habit of getting on his nerves sometimes but she was just being overprotective of him. He had dealt with a lot of trauma due to his father and she just wanted him to be okay and not have to deal with it anymore. She only had good intentions.

.

The next morning Malcolm walked into his living room to find his mother on the phone in his kitchen. He sighed and walked to the kitchen counter to look at the daily affirmations his therapist had insisted he use. Ainsley walked into his kitchen as Malcolm was taking his medication.

“Morning,” Ainsley said as she took a seat at the kitchen stool next to him.

“Hey Ains, are you fine with eggs?” He asked before getting up and going to his fridge.

“Sounds good to me,” She said as their mother walked into the kitchen. Malcolm got eggs out and started cooking them.  
“Is your appetite getting better?” his mother asked as she walked towards him.

“Not really. Most foods still make me sick,” He replied quietly. Concern crossed her face and she sighed.

“Have you seen a doctor or therapist while being here?” She asked and Malcolm sighed.

“No, I’ve been busy with school,”

“Malcolm, darling, you need to talk to a therapist, at least,” Jessica said and Malcolm sighed softly.

“I’ll think about it. My friend, Will, he’s been letting me talk to him about my nightmares and stuff,” Malcolm admitted. Jessica sighed as Malcolm plated all their eggs. Ainsley thanked him as she took her eggs and sat at the island counter. Jessica dropped the subject as they ate in silence. Malcolm didn’t really eat though, mainly picked at his food after taking a few bites. To which Jessica then mentioned him needing to see a doctor again.

Malcolm knew his mom would be slightly overbearing the whole time she was visiting and he would need to see if Will would be willing to harbor him when he needed a break from his mom and her questions.

.

Will was alone for the holidays but he honestly didn’t mind it much. He liked being able to spend time, not worrying about writing up new lectures or dealing with unruly students. Sure, it could get a little lonely and boring at times but Will didn’t mind it. He had the dogs and he was used to it by now.

He appreciated Malcolm’s offer to join him and his family but Will didn’t think he was social enough to make a good impression as Malcolm’s friend. Will may have been good at reading people but he still struggled in social situations. He was still debating the possibility of joining them for at least one dinner but he knew he probably wouldn’t agree to it.

Will sighed as he pet Buster as the other dogs played. He called the other dogs into the house before heading in himself. Spending the day alone was completely normal for him since he had been on his own since he had moved out of his father’s home. He had been fairly young when he moved away from his father’s home to move to New Orleans after becoming a cop.  
Will pulled himself from his thoughts when there was a knock on the front door. Will sighed as he realized he had been lost in thought for a few minutes. He got up from his kitchen table before opening the door. Malcolm was standing there, alone. Wasn’t his family supposed to be in town already?

“Hey Bright, everything okay?” Will asked, motioning for him to come in. He was worried that Malcolm had gotten in a fight with his mom.

“Hi and yea, sorry I showed up with no warning, my mom is being a little overbearing so I needed a break,” Malcolm explained as he walked into Will’s house.

“How long have your mother and sister been in town? I know it hasn’t been more than a few days. She’s already being overbearing?” Will asked.

“A day and a half. Yea my mom is constantly on me to take my meds and to talk to a therapist just to be safe. I understand that she’s just trying to be a caring mother and make sure I’m doing well but sometimes she pushes it too far,”

“I know what you mean, she’s overprotective after everything, which is fairly understandable. She’d rather you not have any issues because of him but because you do, she just wants to make sure you’re okay and taking care of yourself,”

“Did you just profile my mother without having ever met her?” Malcolm joked and Will chuckled quietly.

“Profiling is what I’m good at,”

“I actually came to ask if you’d be willing to let me come over here if I needed to get a break from her?”

“Of course, I’m usually home,”

Malcolm bent down to say hi to all the dogs, who swarmed him the minute he was inside the house. Buster and Max were pushing for all of Malcolm’s attention. Will chuckled softly, his dogs definitely loved getting extra attention and when people visited they were always right up against the person within a few minutes.

“I know I did just come over to get away from my overbearing mother, but have you thought about joining my family for dinner?” Malcolm said once the dogs stopped begging him for attention and he was able to stand.

“I did and I really don't want to impose,”

“It’ll be fine. My sister is dying to meet my only friend and my mother just wants to know if I am socializing with an actual human,”

“Fine, I’ll have one dinner with your family,”

“Thank you. I honestly just want you there because my mom is a little less overbearing when there is company,” Will smiled, of course Malcolm had other motives in convincing him to join his family for dinner at least once.

Malcolm stayed at Will’s for a while longer before deciding that if he didn’t get back soon, his mother would send a search party looking for him. They had decided that Will would come over in a few nights for Will to come over for dinner.

.

It was finally the night for Will to join Malcolm and his family for dinner and he was currently sitting on his porch with his dog, procrastinating getting ready. The dogs were playing in some of the freshly fallen snow as Will sipped on some hot coffee. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have dinner with them, he was just dreading the social interaction part of having dinner.

He pulled himself from his thoughts before getting up and calling the dogs inside. He knew he had agreed to go and would have to keep that promise. He sighed and took a quick shower so he wouldn’t smell like five dogs. He then looked for a nice button down top and trousers. He knew Bright’s family was very rich and he didn’t want to show up looking like he had just gotten back from fishing.

Will pulled on a light blueish grey button down and some decent black trousers. He then tried to slick back his hair a bit so it looked more neat. Will sighed as he looked in the mirror. He thankfully didn’t look too dressed up but not too casual. He grabbed his coat and car keys before heading out the door.

About thirty minutes later, he was parking outside Malcolm’s apartment building. Will sighed quietly as he got out of the car. He was regretting agreeing just because he knew he wasn’t great in social situations. He walked up the stairs to Malcolm’s apartment and knocked on the door. Malcolm opened the door, looking tired.

“When was the last time you slept Bright?” Will jokingly asked and Malcolm let out a quiet chuckle.

“Two nights ago,” He responded though Will could tell he wasn’t even sure of his answer.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, concern evident in his voice. 

"Yea, I'm used to not sleeping for days at a time," 

“Thank you for coming to dinner, My mother is wonderful at times but most times she's just overbearing but having someone else here will calm her efforts a bit, ” Malcolm added a few seconds later.

“Its no problem, you did pactically beg me to join you, thank you for inviting me though,” Will said and Malcolm gave him a small smile.

“Come in,” Malcolm said before moving to let Will walk into his apartment.

Once inside, Malcolm led him to the kitchen where his mother and sister were. Malcolm’s sister, a small blonde teenager walked over to him.

“Hi I’m Ainsley, you must be Malcolm’s only friend from what I’ve heard,” She said and Malcolm rolled his eyes.

“Thanks Ains, just point out I’m not a socialite like you,” He teased his sister and Will smiled. It was obvious Malcolm loved his sister and that they had a good sibling relationship.

“Hi, you’re right, that would be me, I’m Will, it’s nice to meet you” he said and Ainsley smiled. The other woman, who Will had already assumed was Malcolm’s mother, walked over.

“Hello,Mrs....Whitly,” Will said watching as Malcolm mouthed for him to call her ‘Whitly”.

“Oh, darling please just call me Jessica. It’s so lovely to meet a friend of Malcolm’s,” She said and Will gave her a small smile.

“Anyways dinner is ready,” Malcolm said and Will offered to help him set the table. They got everything on the table then all sat down.

“So Malcolm tells us that you’re a professor,” Jessica said a few minutes into dinner.

“I am, Malcolm’s actually one of my students,” Will responded quietly once he was done chewing.

“So we’ve been told, do you usually befriend your students?" Jessica asked and Will chewed on his bottom lip. He was uncomfortable with all the attention being on him but it was what he expected when he agreed to join them for dinner. 

"No, I noticed Malcolm was struggling a bit with some of the work and I offered him help, we just happened to become friends," Will

"What made you decide to become a professor?” Ainsley asked, realizing her mother was making Will uncomfortable. So she was just as good at reading people as her brother was. 

“I was a cop up until a few years ago but I got injured, I couldn’t do work as a field agent, due to injury and I still wanted to be in law enforcement so I applied to be a professor at Quantico,” Will explained quietly. Jessica watched him the whole time he spoke, obviusly trying to decide if she approved of the man her son had befriended. 

The group talked a bit more as they ate. It was a bit awkward and there was a few times Malcolm had to tell him mom not to pressure Will into answering a question. Will learned a bit more about how Malcolm was raised and about his family life. They talked for a while longer after dinner but Will eventually had to head home to check on the dogs. Will was also feeling overwhelmed with the amount of social interaction. Malcolm walked him down to his car and thanked him for coming over again. Will knew Malcolm had mentioned that his mother was less overbearing when they had company so he knew it was giving Malcolm a break from that. He hoped he had made a good impression and Malcolm wasn't immediately scolded for befriending someone who came off as rude. 

.

Malcolm ended up stopping by his house a few times as a way to get away from his mother when it became too much. Other than that they didn’t talk much during the break, now classes were starting up again and Malcolm and Will were talking more now that Malcolm’s family had gone back to New York. Malcolm was early to Will’s class most days and spent that time trying to get Will to open up more. Will still wasn’t sharing much information about himself as he struggled with trusting people.

One day before class, Will was reading a case file when Malcolm walked into the classroom. Will had been given access to help write profiles for cases but not any field work. He seemed to only work on small cases, nothing large like the Chesapeake Ripper or any other big serial killers.

“Hey,” Malcolm said, causing Will to jump, since Malcolm startled him.

“Hey, sorry I got caught up in this file and didn’t even notice you come in,” Will said.

“Can I take a look at it?” Malcolm asked and Will motioned for him to come over. Malcolm looked over at the case file, looking through all the photos.

“This murder feels personal. There was definitely a motive behind it,” Malcolm said, picking up one of the photos.

“Yea, I thought that too, but what was the motive?” Will said and sighed, “I’m not even working the case and it’s stressing me out,” He added and ran a hand through his hair.

“Is this case still going on?” Malcolm asked and Will nodded. He knew he wasn’t supposed to share the case files he was offering help on to students but he trusted Malcolm.

“Yea, I’m actually helping them create a profile but I’m struggling to figure out the motive,”

“Maybe we can try and figure it out together, It’ll be good for me to have some experience trying to solve a case”

“You’ll get experience in your third year when you can be an intern in the lab,”

“Please,” Malcolm said, giving Will a small smile.

“Fine but only because I trust you to not be stupid about it,” Will said and shook his head slightly.

The pair spent the rest of the time bouncing ideas for a motive off each other. They worked pretty well as a team and Will could see Malcolm coming to him for help in cases in the future when Malcolm became an actual agent. Eventually they were able to find the motive.

.

Time was going by extremely fast and soon enough Malcolm’s second year was starting. He was now doing way more tests to ensure he would be ready when the real thing came along in his final year. Will wasn’t teaching his criminal psychology class anymore but had confirmed he would be helping him and would likely be his professor for Malcolm’s third year class.  
During the summer break, Gil Arroyo and his wife Jackie had come to visit Malcolm to see how he was doing. Gil had been the officer to arrest his father and had supported Malcolm’s family after Martin’s arrest. Their family had become close with him since he was often checking in on them and he was basically like a father figure to Malcolm since Malcolm no longer had Martin to look up to.

Malcolm had begun to help Will with some of the cases he did consulting work on, which wasn’t very often as Will wasn’t an actual agent and never had been. They worked well as a team and it did help Malcolm prepare for future consulting work.

As the semester went by, Malcolm spent his free time in Will’s classroom when it was empty of other trainees. One day Malcolm even got to witness Will’s annoyance at the bureau naming the museum on killers the ‘Evil Minds’ museum. He even wrote an angry email to Jack Crawford, who was head of the Behavioral Science Unit. Malcolm sighed as Will read it out to him. He agreed with Will, it wasn’t a tasteful name.

.

More time went by and soon it was a week before the start of his third year. He was currently walking Will’s dogs at the side of the river Will was currently fishing in. Malcolm was trying to not stress out over his third year starting soon. He had been in contact with Gil, who was encouraging Malcolm’s choice to continue his education at Quantico. He knew Gil would support him since he was a cop himself. Will had also been supportive of Malcolm and a big help especially when Malcolm was facing disapproval from his mother. He was gonna be able to get through the year. He also was able to get some internships in any of the labs on campus.

.

Classes had started and Malcolm was thankful to have Will as his professor again since he had an interesting approach on the cases. They had gotten a lot closer and thankfully Will had finally broken his walls down around Malcolm. They definetly had a close relationship and Malcolm was like the little brother Will never had.

One day, Malcolm noticed a man waiting for Will’s lectures to finish. Malcolm didn't recognize him immediately and was pretty sure that he was probably just going to ask Will to do some more consulting on cases for local police. 

“We’ve all thought of killing someone, whether it be by our own hand or god’s. Tell me what your design is,” Will said before dismissing class. Malcolm lingered to see what the man who was waiting wanted. He realized that the man was Jack Crawford. Shit did Will get himself in trouble? He did know that Will was doing some more work in the field with his consults, maybe he wasn’t allowed to do small field work anymore.

Malcolm couldn’t fully hear their conversation; he realized they were talking about Will’s ability to empathize with people. Crawford wanted Will’s help. Malcolm left the room. He’d ask Will about it later.


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will starts working cases and malcolm is definitely written as an annoying little brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is literally me just coming up with dumb moments

Malcolm headed to Will’s classroom once his office hours were open. The classroom door was closed and locked. Will wasn’t there. He probably was still talking to Jack Crawford. He’d talk to him in the morning then.

.

Will sighed as he got on the plane to Minnesota, he hadn’t intended to work field work especially not for what seemed to be a serial killer case. He already struggled with just small cases, a large case would be damaging for his mental health as it would trigger his nightmares again to get into the killer’s head. Especially one that was killing young girls, for what reason, Will didn’t know yet. 

Once they arrived at the home of the latest missing girl, Will had to prepare himself to be social before following Jack inside. Will looked around the living room as Jack questioned and talked to Eloise’s parents. Will listened but didn’t participate until it hit him, the cat. 

“How’s the cat?” Will asked, causing everyone to turn to him. 

“What?” Eloise’s father asked. 

“The cat, the cat would be acting weird if it hadn’t eaten all weekend,” Will said. 

Jack realized what Will was suggesting and called for the forensics team. Now the home was a crime scene. Will pulled on some gloves that Jack offered him and had Eloise’s father show him to her room. He had to make sure that Eloise’s dad wouldn’t touch anything and had to force him to hold the cat so Will could open the door. 

When the door opened and Will saw Eloise’s body, he immediately went to push the father back so he wouldn’t have to see his daughter like that. Will called for Jack to come upstairs, thankful that the forensics team were already on their way. While they waited for the forensic team to show up, he let Will go into the room to try and get into the killer’s head. 

Will closed his eyes after looking around the room. He realized that the killer had brought Eloise back. Will opened his eyes to find a woman in the room. 

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” Will said when he saw her. Jack walked into the room. 

“I found antler fibers in the wounds,” She said and Will sighed. 

“Katz you weren’t supposed to be in here,” Jack said. Will sighed, right she was apart of the forensics team. 

Katz then introduced herself to Will and he gave his name back. She then began to ask if he was an agent and Will sighed before turning to Jack. 

“Our killer put her back, he couldn’t go through with it. It’s like he was apologizing,” Will explained to Jack, which created more questions but Will just wanted to go home. Finally they were all able to head back to Virginia and Will drove home, only to end up coming home with another dog. 

His nightmares returned that night and Will sighed as he ended up curling up on his bed once he had woken from his nightmare. He wouldn’t be getting much sleep before having to head into work for his lectures again. 

.

The next morning, Malcolm walked into his classroom early. Will had his head in his hands, half asleep. 

“Hey what did Crawford want yesterday?” Malcolm asked, walking over to Will’s desk, causing him to jump slightly. 

“Missing girls, he wanted my help profiling the person who took them. It’s a murder case though,” Will explained. 

“Serial killer?” Malcolm asked and Will nodded and sighed. 

“This case is gonna be draining,” He said quietly. 

“You can always talk to me,” Malcolm said quietly. 

“I know. I’m just tired and had to fly to and from Minnesota after class yesterday and deal with a crime scene. It was draining,” 

“That’s understandable,” 

“I may have picked up another dog though… named him Winston” Will admitted and Malcolm chuckled.

“Does that make it six dogs now?” Malcolm asked and Will nodded. 

“Can’t wait to meet the new dog then,” Malcolm said as other students began to file into Will’s classroom. Will chuckled softly and smiled. 

"Go take your seat Bright," Will said before setting up his lecture. 

. 

After his lecture was over, Will ended up having to leave for the lab to go see what they had found on Eloise's body. Beverly had found some antler fibers so they had something. Katz had found a piece of metal that gave them a clue on where this serial killer was working. 

. 

Will was called into Jack's office, to find another man there as well. Will sighed as he took a seat. The other man was s

dressed extremely nice, likely a consultant rather than another agent. Hannibal Lecter, Jack had introduced them when Will walked in.Now, they were talking about Freddie Lounds sharing photos from Eloise's case on TattleCrime. 

"Tasteless," Will blurted out. 

"Do you have problems with taste?" Hannibal asked, an accent obvious in his voice. European, Will just wasn't exactly sure exactly where from. 

"My thoughts are often not tasty," Will mumbled. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about Hannibal yet. 

"Nor mine. No effective barriers," 

"I build forts." 

"Associations come quickly," 

"So do forts," Will said, some annoyance clear in his voice.

"Not fond of eye contact are you," Hannibal said and Will sighed. Something was going on. 

"Eyes are distracting," Will said before going off into a ramble on how eyes were. Hannibal watched him as he spoke and Will soon realized what was going on. 

"Who's profile are you working on? Whose profile is he working on?" Will said, annoyance now very clear in his voice. Of course. He should have known Jack was gonna try to profile him. 

"I can't turn it off, Just like you can't turn it off," Hannibal said. 

"Don't psychoanalyze me. You won't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed," Will said as he stood. "Now excuse me, I have to go give a lecture on psychoanalyzing," He added before leaving the room and heading to his classroom. 

Malcolm was already waiting outside since his class still didn't start for a few more minutes. 

"You look annoyed," Malcolm said as Will unlocked his classroom door. 

"Jack asked someone to come psychoanalyze me," Will said then sighed. 

"Oh so he did the thing that would piss you off most," 

"Yea. I got annoyed and left after I realized what was going on. The guy was some pretentious psychiatrist or something like that," 

"He can't be that bad just cause he's rich? Or did he give off rich guy who kills people for fun vibes?" Malcolm asked jokingly, trying to put Will in a better mood. Will chuckled softly. 

"You automatically assumed he was rich," Will said jokingly.

"You called him pretentious and as someone who comes from a rich family, usually pretentious is about rich people," Malcolm explained and Will rolled his eyes. 

"Sometimes you're so annoying, Bright," 

"Thank You," Malcolm said and Will chuckled. God, he loved Malcolm like he was a brother though just like a brother, he could annoy the shit out of Will. 

Other students began to file into the classroom and Malcolm went to take his seat. At least Will was in a slightly better mood and wouldn't get mad at his students for existing. 

.

The next morning they were called to another crime scene, this time it was a display. Will immediately could see that it wasn't the same killer. This was a copycat. He didn't love women the same way their other killer did. The Minnesota Shrike, at least that's what local police were calling this killer now. 

This crime scene was meant to be a message though. The copycat was trying to tell Will something. He had to stay in Minnesota for the scene since they needed to catch this killer as soon as possible and now they had enough evidence to give them a lead. 

.

Will called Malcolm when he got back to his hotel room.

"So new body, I think it's a copycat but Jack doesn't seem to believe me," Will said a few minutes into the call. 

"Why do you think its a copycat? I know you said the killer wasn't one to display bodies but maybe he changed his mind?" Malcolm asked. 

"Our original killer loves women, at least the one he's modeling these other girls after. His daughter likely, she's probably moving away soon. The body today was someone who saw the victim as a pig, just meat," 

"He's stating that the killer is a cannibal," Malcolm blurted out. 

"Great, Jack Crawford will think I'm insane for suggesting that. Tomorrow I have to go check some work sites for any clues on who our killer is," Will said before quietly sighing. 

"Well, I wish you luck with that. Do you want me to go check in on the dogs while you're gone? I can finally meet Winston," 

"Please, I would greatly appreciate you if you did," 

"You already appreciate me," Malcolm teased and Will groaned. 

"You're doing the annoying sibling thing again,"

"It's all the years I spent teasing Ains. I cannot turn it off, so now you are the victim of my teasing," Malcolm replied and Will chuckled. 

"One day, I'm gonna end up blocking your number," Will said jokingly and Malcolm let out a gasp as if he was offended. 

"You know you enjoy talking to me too much to do that," 

"Do I though?" Will joked and Malcolm let out a quiet laugh. 

They did really treat each other like siblings. They talked for a while longer before Malcolm had to go since he had early morning classes. Will knew he had to be up early as well since they had a lot of work to do. Will took a quick shower once they hung up the phone before trying to get some sleep. 

.

The next morning he was once again having to deal with Hannibal, who had shown up at his hotel room with breakfast. He was thankful that the man had made him breakfast but he didn't understand why he was so insistent on them getting along. Will obviously was not fond of him after their first meeting, why would he keep pushing him?

While in the car, when he wasn't driving, he sent a few messages to Malcolm about how Hannibal was insisting they become friendly. 

_ he's insisting we become friends and i told him he wasn't interesting.  _

Will messaged to Malcolm. 

**_so he must not give off serial killer vibes if you don't think he's interesting._ **

Malcolm replied and Will rolled his eyes. Of course he was still keeping up the serial killer joke.

_ he's just a pretentious asshole.  _

**_whatever you say._ **

Will sighed as they pulled up to the construction site. Hannibal was smiling. Dear god, even him smiling was irritating. Will just extremely annoyed with his presence. They went inside and looked through files. One stood out to Will immediately. There was no address. It was just a resignation letter. 

After carrying out boxes and cleaning up the one Hannibal dropped. They were on their way to Garret Jacob Hobbs' home. When they pulled up Hobbs threw his wife who's throat had been slit onto the floor. Will tried to help but she was already dead by the time he got to her. He pulled out his gun as he entered the house. As he walked into the kitchen to find Hobbs holding a young woman who looked like the others, his daughter, his golden ticket. 

Will shot Hobbs as he sliced her throat, he was knocked down before he got the whole cut done and Will shot him a few more times before heading to the girl to try and save her. His hands were shaking. 

"See," He heard Hobbs whisper as Hannibal walked in and pushed Will aside to put a more stable hold on the girl's neck. Will couldn't remember much else until he was sat in his car while paramedics drove away with the girl, Abigail Hobbs. 

.

Will headed back to Virginia that night. Still in shock from the day.

When he arrived home, late that night. He found Malcolm asleep on his couch with Buster. Will gently shook his shoulder, causing Malcolm to jolt up when he woke 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Will said quietly.

"It's okay, I wasn't expecting you home yet. Sorry I fell asleep on your couch after I came to check on the dogs," Malcolm said and Will sighed. 

"It's okay and 1I needed a day off. I have to go back tomorrow afternoon. We found the killer... he's dead," 

"Shit, how?" 

"A resignation letter… went to his house.. he killed his wife and almost killed his daughter and I shot him ten times," 

"Are you okay after that?" Malcolm asked and Will looked at him, his hands shaking slightly. 

"I'm not sure," Will said and Malcolm stood up and pulled him into a hug. Will let out a quiet sob as he hugged Malcolm. 

He didn't understand why he was acting like this was affecting him. Killing Hobbs felt good, it wasn't a traumatic experience but he was acting like it was. Will knew he couldn't tell that to Malcolm, he had enough trauma when it came to murder and he didn't need Malcolm being concerned that Will was sprailing and going to become a killer. Malcolm didn't need that. So he would pretend that it was a traumatic experience that it was affecting him instead of him feeling nothing for Hobbs. 

Malcolm pulled back from the hug and sighed. 

"You did what you had to. Don't feel guilty for that," Malcolm said. 

"Did you feel guilty when you turned your father in?" Will asked. He was curious. Did Malcolm ever regret that choice? 

"Yes, I did for years… I loved my father but he was a monster and I wouldn't have been able to live with the guilt of knowing and not turning him in," Malcolm said, his voice shaky and his hand tremor was back. Will hugged him again. Shit he shouldn't have asked. 

"Sorry I asked about your father," Will said and Malcolm nodded. 

"It's fine. You deserve to know that," Malcolm said and pulled back and gave him a small smile. 

"Still, I know how traumatic that was for you," 

"Yea…. Anyways are you sure you want to go back into the field after that?" 

"Yea, I'll be fine. I just need some rest. Jack needs my help anyways," Will said and Malcolm sighed. 

"Don't dig yourself into a hole you can't get out of," 

"I won't. If it affects me to the point where I'm not okay, I'll get out," 

"Promise?" 

"I promise," Will said before adding "are you staying on my couch tonight or do you want me to drive back to your apartment?" 

"I'll stay on your couch, Make sure you aren't lying to me," Malcolm said and Will rolled his eyes. 

"I'm not, but I will warn you, being in the field after so long has caused nightmares," 

"I have nightmares nightly. I'll probably wake you before you wake me," Malcolm said before going back to the couch. Will sighed and went to his own bed. 

Will tried to fall asleep but he couldn't stop thinking about Garret Jacob Hobbs whispering 'see' to him. What did he mean with that? Will sighed and buried his face into his pillow. Malcolm was already asleep on his couch. Maybe he should just stay up. He knew Malcolm would likely wake up due to a nightmare and Will would rather be awake just in case since Malcolm could supposedly get violent in his sleep. 

.

Will did eventually get some sleep but it was after having to help Malcolm calm down from a nightmare. He drove Malcolm home pretty early in the morning. Then drove back home to let the dogs out and grabbed some more stuff before he was heading back to Minnesota later that day. 

He went to visit Abigail Hobbs only to find Hannibal asleep there. He sat in the other chair for a while before he had to got meet up with Jack. 

Will sighed as him and Jack walked into Garret Jacob Hobbs cabin. It was going to be a long day. 

.

Malcolm sighed as he listened to Dr. Alana Bloom speak. He knew Will was busy with the case but he already missed how interesting Will's classes were. Plus if there was any mention of his father, Malcolm would be forced to stay in the classroom. 

.

Finally, Will was able to come back from Minnesota and by then his students were aware of him killing Hobbs. They applauded for him when Will walked into the classroom. Dear god. 

"Stop that," Will said. He hated that they were applauding him for simply just doing his job. Will then went on to show the resignation letter that he used to find Hobbs. There was nothing that led him to the conclusion he had made. 

After class was done, Malcolm walked over to his desk. 

"Did you really figure out it was Hobbs just from that letter?" Malcolm asked as Alana Bloom walked into Will's class. 

"It was dumb luck," Will said and Malcolm sighed. Alana walked over. 

"You're gonna get ambushed later, by later I mean soon. Basically when Jack Crawford walks in," Alana said, not acknowledging Malcolm's presence. 

"And there's Jack Crawford," Will said as Jack walked in. Malcolm gave a small wave to Will and walked out. Will gave him a small nod before turning to Jack and Alana. 

"Am I needed?" Will asked. Jack then explained that he wanted Will to get a psychological evaluation after Will shooting Hobbs ten times. Will sighed then Jack suggested he have therapy with Hannibal. 

Great, Now he had to deal with Hannibal again. 

.

Will sighed as he waited for Hannibal in his waiting room. Hannibal let him in and they talked for a while before Hannibal signed off on his psychological eval. 

Guess he was cleared to be called onto a bunch of cases now. 

. 

He ended up being called to another crime scene, where the killer was using the bodies to grow mushrooms. When Will was trying to get into the head of the killer, he saw Hobbs and freaked out. 

He needed to go talk to Hannibal. He had been cleared for cases way to early. He wasn't ready for this. 

Once they were done with the crime scene, Will headed to Hannibal's office. He sighed as he put the paper on Hannibal's desk.

"This was premature," Will said and Hannibal looked at it. 

"What happened?" Hannibal asked. 

"Saw Hobbs at the crime scene," Will said, which caused Hannibal to go into a whole rant about how Hobbs was his victim. 

"I don't see Hobbs as my victim," Will replied. 

"Well what do you see him as?" 

"Dead," Hannibal sighed when Will spoke. Obviously, Will was just as irritating for him as he was to Will. At least that's what Will thought. 

.

A few hours later Will was being called back into the field. Great. He just has to deal with this because Hannibal seems to think he's completely okay. 

They were able to find the woman who had last been taken by their killer, Eldon Stammets but he was able to get away. Since, Freddie Lounds decided to release an article about how Will was insane. 

Will ended up heading to Malcolm's apartment after to have a conversation and calm down from how annoyed he was. 

"She really disrupted an investigation because she had to call me insane," Will complained as Malcolm watched him pace around his living room. 

"Lounds is known for being completely relentless," Malcolm stated and Will groaned. 

"The killer got away because we had to deal with that fucking article," Will said angrily and Malcolm chewed on his bottom lip. 

"Will, you need to calm down," 

"How can I calm down? A killer got away and I have no idea how Lounds even got that information," Will sighed and sat down, putting his head in his hands. Malcolm walked over to him. 

"I'm sorry she disrupted the case with that article. Hopefully everything will be fine though. And you'll catch this killer, I know you can," 

"Thanks. Sorry, I just needed to get it off my chest and Doctor Lecter is annoying to be around," 

"You seem to hate him for no reason. I haven't met the guy but he can't be that bad," 

"We had a bad first meeting and I just am not a big fan of therapists," Will said and sighed. He didn't really have anything against Hannibal; he just didn't want to admit he was okay with him because it may be seen as him accepting therapy, which isn't what he wanted. 

"That's understandable but give him a chance, maybe he's right and he could feel more like a friend than a therapist," Malcolm said then added, "As someone who had to go to therapy for most of my life, pushing away any help does nothing. Even if all you talk to Doctor Lecter about is work, It may help you with solving cases or even help your mental health in general,"

"Since when are you the one giving advice?" Will joked and Malcolm let out a quiet laugh. 

"Seriously though, I'll try," Will added a few seconds later. Malcolm gave him a small smile. 

"Good, now you said this case involved a guy using bodies to grow mushrooms. That's so cool… but also disturbing," Malcolm said and Will chuckled. 

"You sometimes get way too excited about murder," Will said and Malcolm smiled. 

"I just think it's interesting," Malcolm said and Will shook his head, chuckling softly.

"It's still slightly concerning," 

"Don't act like you don't find it interesting," 

"I'm messing with you, Bright," 

"See now you're doing the annoying sibling thing you so often accuse me of doing," Malcolm teased Will and he chuckled. Will was so thankful that he could go to Malcolm to rant about some of the stupid shit work puts him through. 

Will and Malcolm talked for a while longer before Will decided to head home. 

The next afternoon, Will was on his way to see Abigail when his phone rang, Jack was calling him. Jack told him Eldon Stammets had Abigail. Will ran through the hospital and pulled out his gun when he found him. He ended up shooting Eldon to get him to stop from taking Abigail. This was gonna end up with him having more therapy by the end of the week. 

.

Once the weekend hit, Malcolm and Will were hanging out at his house. Malcolm was sat on Will's porch and Will was standing in his doorway. 

"You're gonna be extra busy with cases aren't you?" Malcolm asked. 

"Jack wants more to work for him though I don't even have an official badge. I'm still just a teacher with a temporary badge," Will stated as he sighed. 

"I have to go to therapy sessions every week to keep that badge as well," Will added. 

"With Doctor Lecter?" 

"Yea, He's gotten better… less annoying than the first time I met him at least," 

"Well that's good. What's he even like?" Malcolm asked if he was curious about the man. 

"Definitely rich and european. All he wears are three piece suits and expensive ones at that. He speaks like he's talking out of a thesaurus, a lot of metaphors… it's kinda hard to keep up with him," Will explained.

"So basically he's an intelligent man whose relatively rich and likes the finer things in life," Malcolm said and Will nodded. 

"In simple terms, Yes,"

"He doesn't sound as bad as you originally made him out to be," 

"He's definitely not. I was just annoyed with him and Jack and I thought he was just some pretentious asshole," Will said quietly. 

"You like him more than you'd like to admit don't you?" Malcolm asked then gasped. 

"Do you think he's attractive?" Malcolm teased and Will rolled his eyes. 

"Oh god, not this," Will groaned and Malcolm let out a quiet laugh. 

"Oh come on, do you?" 

"He's good looking that's all I'm saying on the matter," Will stated and Malcolm smiled.

"I'm not gonna tease you for it," He exclaimed. 

"I don't believe that but I'll pretend I do," Will said as he leaned against his door frame. A few moments of silence passed and Will sighed softly. 

"How are you feeling by the way? I know today's marks a few years since you cut off contact with your father," Will said and Malcolm turned to look at him. 

"Better than I did last year. I know I shouldn't but I do miss him… He's a serial killer and I miss him," 

"He's still your father, he still raised you for the first eleven years of your life and you were technically still close to him for the next eleven. You have every right to miss him," 

"Thanks for making me feel at least a bit better about that. I'm still concerned I'll feel the urge to go visit him again and I'll go back to that toxic manipulative relationship," 

"I can't pretend I know exactly what it's like but I can understand your feelings and that's understandable but you're a strong person Malcolm, you can easily ignore those impulses," Will said and Malcolm gave him a small smile. 

"You're a good person Malcolm, don't let what your dad did define you," Will added. 

"I've spent so long trying to separate myself from him and then I go and define myself with what he did," Malcolm said quietly and let out a chuckle. 

"Sorry, I didn't want to bring the mood down," Malcolm said a few seconds later and Will sat down next to him. 

"It's fine. We're friends you can vent to me all you want," Will said and gave Malcolm a hug from the side. 

"Thanks. The same goes for you," Malcolm said. 

"You know how I was an only child?" 

"Yea, it was just you and your dad right?" 

"Yea. I always wanted a sibling, someone I could hang put with and someone I could tell all my secrets," Will chuckled, " You're like the little brother I never had," Will said quietly and Malcolm smiled. 

"Well you're like my older brother that I enjoy annoying the fuck out of," Will pushed Malcolm once he finished speaking. 

"I was trying to be nice but you ruined the moment. Sometimes you're an ass, Bright," Will said and Malcolm laughed loudly. Will rolled his eyes. 

"Sometimes I hate you," Will groaned and Malcolm smiles. 

"You know you love me," He teased and nudged Will's side. Will shook his head and smiled at him. 

"Unfortunately," Will teased. 

.

A few days later, Abigail Hobbs woke up and Jack wanted Will and Hannibal to go talk to her. Jack believed that Abigail had helped her father hunt his victims. Will sighed as him and Hannibal headed to her room at Port Haven. 

When they walked into her room, Freddie Lounds was there talking to her. Hannibal told her to leave and Will grabbed the business card she tried to give to Abigail and ripped it up. He couldn't believe Lounds was now trying to convince Abigail he was insane even though all he was doing was his job. 

They talked to Abigail for a bit before heading back out. Not able to get any information Jack wanted them to get. Lounds was waiting for them out front which annoyed Will even more. He honestly didn't remember what she had said to him. 

"Miss. Lounds, It's not very smart to piss off a guy who thinks about killing people for a living," Will said, annoyance clear in his voice. He regretted the words the minute she was away from them. He was going to be in deep shit if she decided to write about them, which he knew she would. 

_ i fucked up _

Will messaged Malcolm after they got back in Hannibal's car. 

**_oh god what did you do?_ **

Malcolm replied a few minutes later and Will sighed. 

_ i may have basically threatened freddie lounds  _

**_will how dumb are you?_ **

_ she pissed me off and dr.lecter easily could've stopped me  _

**_well at least you'll both be in deep shit if lounds decides to post that_ **

_ wait bright, aren't you in class?  _

**_maybe…_ **

Will rolled his eyes and put his phone away. He didn't need Bright getting himself in trouble. 

"Who are you messaging?" Hannibal asked curiously and Will looked at him. 

"A friend. I realized I fucked up with Lounds. She's going to use that against me," Will said and Hannibal nodded. 

"She is relentless. She won't care if her writing about you could ruin your career," Hannibal replied and Will sighed. 

"I know and I just gave her content," 

"Well, I let you. You have every right to stand up for yourself," 

"By threatening the journalist who wants to take me down?" 

"It was a logical statement," Hannibal said and Will raised his eyebrows. Will sighed and leaned his head against his hand. 

"If Jack gets pissed at me, it's on you as well," Will said and Hannibal shrugged. 

"I'll take the responsibility. Lounds is going to end up committing slander if she continues, You just gave her a warning," Hannibal said. Will stayed quiet for the rest of the drive. 

By the time they got back to Quantico and were heading to talk to Jack, Freddie had posted an article about Will. Jack was waiting for them with Alana in his office. He was in deep shit. Jack gave him a lecture about not giving into Lound's bullshit. 

Will sighed and went back to his classroom after arguing with Jack. Malcolm was waiting outside his room. 

"Lounds already posted an article about what you said. Did you actually say that?" Malcolm said and Will smiled at him. 

"Yea," Will said, chuckling softly.

"Good one," 

"I got lectured by Jack though, so not my best move," Will said and Malcolm chuckled. 

"True," Malcolm said as Will unlocked his classroom door. Will put his stuff down and sighed as he took a seat. 

"How were the guest lectures when I wasn't here?" Will asked. 

"Fine, Doctor Bloom is a decent teacher," Malcolm said as he sat in a seat by Will's desk. Doctor Lecter walked into the classroom and Will looked up. 

"Told you I was in deep shit with Jack," Will said to Hannibal and Malcolm sighed. 

"When are you not in trouble with Jack. You always seem to do something to annoy him," Malcolm teased and Will glared at him. 

"Jack doesn't like the answers I come up with sometimes," Will said to Malcolm before turning to Hannibal, "Anyways Jack seemed annoyed that you let me speak to Lounds that way. I told you he would be," 

"Jack was annoyed, but you have your own free will, as I told him, I don't have control over your actions. I came to talk to you about Abigail Hobbs," 

"Do you believe she helped her father?" Will asked Hannibal. Malcolm watched their interaction. 

"No, Abigail seems more traumatized by the even than anything else," Hannibal explained. 

"Wait, Jack is accusing the girl of helping her dad? Did she act like she was aware that her father was a killer?" Malcolm asked and Will looked at him.

"She didn't act as if she knew, she seemed more worried that she would turn out like him" Hannibal said then looked at Malcolm, "Are you one of Will's students?" 

"Yea, Malcolm Bright," Malcolm said then looked down. 

"I don't think Jack should force her into questioning. Finding out a loved one is a serial killer is a traumatic thing," Malcolm added a few seconds later. 

"Jack won't listen," Will said quietly. 

"Maybe he will if he talks to someone who can understand her," Malcolm said. Will realized what he was suggesting. 

"Jack won't listen to me, Doctor Lecter or Doctor Bloom, he likely won't listen to a trainee," 

"Yes but my father.." 

"Malcolm no," Will interrupted Malcolm. Hannibal watched their interaction. Obviously curious about what was going on. Will sighed and looked back to Hannibal. 

"Are we taking Abigail back to Minnesota?" Will asked 

"Yes, You, Alana and me," Hannibal said and Will nodded. 

"Bright, I'll see you later, don't even consider your idea," Will said as they walked out of the classroom together.

He knew Malcolm would likely check on the dogs for him since he knew they were heading back to Minnesota and were probably projected to stay at least overnight. Will didn't want to ask in front of Hannibal and have Hannibal get the wrong idea about what his relationship with Malcolm was. 

Malcolm sighed, he knew Will was just looking out for him but he wanted to help them. 

"Fine, I won't," Malcolm mumbled before walking away. Will sighed and Hannibal looked at him. 

"You care for that trainee," Hannibal said and Will looked at him.

"He's been through a lot, He's a good person who dealt with some shit," Will said quietly. Hannibal nodded and they walked towards the front of Quantico where they would be meeting Alana. 

Will was worried Malcolm would try to help but he didn't want Malcolm forcing himself to talk about his father to help them get Jack to lay low with forcing them to get Abigail to open up. 

The small group arrived at Abigail's home. Her friend stopped by and the relative of Cassie Boyle had ended up antagonizing the girls. It wasn't long before they were leaving Abigail's house after that and heading to her father's cabin. They were talking but then blood dropped onto Abigail's forehead. Will immediately rushed upstairs only to find the body of Abigail's friend. Will called Jack and his team as Abigail came up and saw the body. She screamed before running downstairs. 

Jack arrived a few minutes later and gave Will a lecture before telling Hannibal to take Abigail back to the hotel. Will stayed with Jack and the forensics team to gather evidence. Talking to Price and Zeller about the blood that could be from the killer. 

They ended up being called back to Abigail's house since Nicolas Boyle had apparently attacked them. Will just wanted to go home, so he did.

.

Will spent the next few days just trying to get through his teaching job and avoiding Jack. He spent his office hours talking to Malcolm. Thankfully there were no major crime scenes where Jack needed Will to help on. 

"So Doctor Lecter doesn't seem too bad. I didn't get any serial killer vibes from him," Malcolm said one day when they were hanging out in Will's classroom. Will rolled his eyes. 

"I never said he gave off serial killer vibes. I just said he seemed like an asshole," Will said as he typed into his laptop. 

"Well obviously, if he was a serial killer you would've figured it out already," Malcolm said and Will put his head in his hands. 

"You're more distracting than anything else," Will said, fake annoyance clear in his voice. 

"What are you doing?" Malcolm said, motioning towards Will's laptop. 

"Replying to an email from Beverly Katz about the blood that was found on Marissa's body," Will said quietly.

"Did you guys find out whose it is?" 

"Looks like it's Nicolas Boyle's blood," 

"Wait, the brother of the first copycat victim? Is that suggesting that he killed his sister as well?" 

"If we're thinking Cassie and Marissa were killed by the same person, then yes and that's what we're thinking," Will said and sighed. 

"Does that mean the case is closed?" 

"So far. Unless Jack begins to think Abigail helped her father again, we shouldn't have to deal with this case again," Will said quietly. Malcolm nodded and leaned back in his seat. 

"How are your other classes going? I know you can start interning in the lab soon," 

"Good and maybe we'll be working cases together soon," 

"Oh god," Will said jokingly and Malcolm chuckled. 

"You'd love working with me," 

"Might make working in the lab more interesting but Katz, Price and Zeller will not be as approving of your excitement for murder," 

"How are they to work with anyway?" 

"Beverly is nice, we've talked a few times. Price is a decent coworker, we haven't interacted much. I don't think Zeller likes me though and I've barely talked to him. They're nice and working with them isn't an issue at all," Will explained and Malcolm nodded. 

.

A month went by before Jack needed Will on another case. A whole family had been murdered. Will sighed as they walked into the house where the crime scene was. Jack kicked everyone out of the room to let Will do his thing. Will got into the head of the killer and then told Jack everything he figured out from it. It wasn't much but it was a start. 

Will took a case file home with it so he could start working on a profile. He probably would ask his students or just Malcolm for help if he can. He sighed, he knew they would likely end up with another murder because he wasn't sure hiz profile would give them enough to narrow down to a suspect. 

.

A few weeks passed before there was another crime scene. It was in a completely different state but it was obviously the same killer. This scene was able to help them as one of the bodies was identified as the son of the family that had gone missing. They then looked into missing children and fond that the last family had a son who had gone missing. There had to be more. 

Their next plan of action was to look into missing boys in the surrounding states. Soon they were able to find the next family that was the target and heading there. They thankfully got there in time and no one was harmed. 

.

Malcolm and Will were in Malcolm's living room watching a movie. 

"I cannot believe you pointed a gun at a child," Malcolm said and Will groaned. 

"You're never going to let that go are you?" Will asked. 

"YOU POINTED A GUN AT A CHILD!," Malcolm exclaimed and Will sighed. 

"I wasn't going to shoot the child, the gun was more of a precaution for if he tried to fire the gun he had," Will said and Malcolm chuckled. 

"Still it's just such a shocking statement out of context," 

"So you're just trying to be annoying," 

"As always," Malcolm said and Will pushed him gently. They both started laughing and Will smiled at him. 

Will was thankful to have a friend that he could joke with even about dark subjects. Malcolm was a good person and a good friend, even though he could be a tad annoying. They had a good friendship. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i know some of the dialogue is stupid but whatever. leave comments and kudos if you want

**Author's Note:**

> yes this was a mess let me live


End file.
